AN 

ADDRESS 



DELIVERED AT WATERTOWN, CT., IN THE CONGREGA- 
TIONAL CHURCH, ON THE EVENING OF THE 
2«th OF SEPTEMBER, 1877, 



before: the 



Airicnltiiral, Horticultural aid Horse Association 



OF THAT TOWN. 



AT THEIR FAIR HELD ON THE 25th, 26th AND 27th OF 

SEPTEMBER : 

\\ / BY 

Hem. SAMUEL fc FOOT, LL. J)., 

M 



OF GENEVA, N. Y. j? 



*<£• 

*?£% 



PUBLISHED BY ORDER OF THE ASSOCIATION. 



GENEVA, N. V.: 

THK GAZETTE STKAM PRIJfTING H<M -I-:. 

1877, 



ADDRESS. 



Fellow Townsmen : — For so the place of my birth authorises 
me to address you : 

Your kind remembrance of me by inviting me to meet and 
address you on this occasion found me in the retirement and 
quietude of advanced years, after the completion of an active 
professional and judicial life. Prudence led me at first to decline 
your invitation, kind and honorable to me as it was, but my 
strong desire to visit once more the place of my nativity, meet the 
the very few of my contemporaries who survive, and the sons 
and daughters of those who have gone before me to their final 
rest, and the hope of saying some last words which may benefit 
them, have overcome all prudential considerations, and induced 
me to make this long journey of several hundred miles. When 
I look at the old farm on which I was born and see the high con- 
dition to which it has been brought by skillful cultivation, and 
recall the years of youthful labor which I spent almost alone on 
its worn-out soil, and the circumstances under which my aged 
parents parted with me, just after I had entered my teens, to pur- 
sue another course of life — and review my long active life, and 
now find myself safely here, in good health and with almost the 
full use of all my faculties, in the 87th year of my age, my 
bosom swells with a volume of gratitude to my Heavenly Father 
which language cannot express. 

You will pardon, I hope, My Friends, these personal allusions 
and reminiscences. They come spontaneously from a full heart, 
and from it "the mouth speaketh. ,, 

Agriculture and horticulture are broad themes, but so many 
learned and able men have written and spoken so fully upou 
them that the man is fortunate who can suggest a new practical 
thought on either. My purpose is not to attempt to entertain 
you by presenting to your imagination, in glowing language, a 
farm or garden as an Arcadian paradise, where the earth without 



labor and culture gives forth its products in rich profusion and 
clothed in perpetual beauty, and where man is only to gather 
and enjoy the bounties of " the Giver of every good and perfect 
gift." ' Such entertainment, if entertainment it can be called, 
may be had at almost any time and place for the asking and pay- 
ing of a scholarly, theoretical and amateur farmer and gardener. 
But my purpose is, to meet you and hold converse with you as 
a practical farmer and gardener Having began life as a hard 
working farmer's boy, and thus learned all kinds of work on a 
farm even to the handling of a cradle and scythe, and now being, 
and having been for the last thirty years, the cultivator of a small 
farm and good sized garden, I' hope to be able, by cutting a few 
leaves from my book of experience, to suggest a thought or two 
which may be worth remembering. 

Let us first inquire and ascertain who is a good farmer and 
who a poor one. On such inquiry we shall find, that a fair 
specimen of the generality of good farmers is a man, who arranges 
his affairs so as to command his business, and not be driven by 
it — who ploughs, plants and sows at the right time — who hoes 
his corn and hills his potatoes when they require it — who cuts 
his grass when ready for the scythe, and harvests his grain when 
ripe — who contracts no debts which he cannot pay when due, 
and always has some ready money on hand, to hire labor when 
he wants it, and buy, at a fair bargain, anything he may happen 
to need — who has an industrious, careful wife, to make the most 
of what he provides, and give him a clean, orderly, comfortable 
house to enter, when he comes in from the field. 

On the other hand we shall find that a poor farmer is a shift- 
less man, who is always behindhand with his work, and never 
has the satisfaction of doing anything rightly and at the right 
time — who neglects his fences, and, consequently, is often annoy- 
ed, when he goes out in the morning, by seeing his own or his 
neighbor's horses and cattle in the fields where his crops are — 
who is always in debt and worried by duns, and who, in short, is 
always " under the weather," and driven by his business — and 
who is so unfortunate as to have an idle, careless and slovenly 
wife — who lets the milk sour because the pans are not properly 
washed and aired — and the butter become rancid, because not 
thoroughly worked — who neither keeps herself nor her children 



tidy, and wastes, instead of taking care of and making the most 
of what her husband brings into the house. 

The first and the valuable thought which the contrast of these 
two characters suggests, and the impressive lesson which it 
teaches the young farmer is, to follow the example and imitate 
the excellencies of the first, and avoid the example and imper- 
fections of the last. If a farmer will faithfully and persever- 
ingly do that, his thrift and success are certain. 

Few farmers are able to do all their own work, and nearly all 
of them are obliged to hire more or less labor. I hire two men 
one by the year, who lives in my family as a domestic, and the 
other for eight months from the first of April to the first of 
December. Pie finds himself and lives in my neighborhood. 
Mainly to avoid all collisions with these men in regard to their 
duties, and prevent them from leaving me when their services 
are needed, I enter into a written contract with each of them, 
specifying in general terms his duties, and concluding with a 
clause that he shall cheerfully comply with all my reasonable 
requests, and on the fulfillment of the contract on his part I 
agree to pay him an amount of money agreed on, as follows: a 
specified sum at the end of each month, which is about two-thirds 
of what he earned that month, and the residue at the end of his 
term of service. I have found this operate advantageously to 
both parties in three wavs : — 

First. After the first month a sum accumulates in my hands 
to which the employee is only entitled on serving me faithfully 
to the end of his term. This secures his continued and faithful 
service till then. 

Second. If any question arises as to his duties, instead of a 
discussion or wrangle with him, I refer him to his contract to 
settle the matter. 

Thikd. If my employee is inclined to be wasteful or extrava- 
gant with his money and lay up nothing, this arrangement pre- 
vents him from westing one-third of his wages, and gi^es him at 
the end of his term of service a considerable sum of money which 
he may be inclined to save and lay up. 

This method has saved me from having any flare-up with any 
of my men for thirty years, and given me the satisfaction of see- 
ing all, but one of them, become thrifty and respectable men in 



tlieir positions of life. Several of them have become wealthy 
farmers. One of my eight-months men served ine twenty years — 
is still my neighbor — is a respectable man and in comfortable 
circumstances. 

This method of hiring my men is one of the leaves which I 
proposed to cut from my book. I will now cut another. 

I act as-a savings bank for all in my employ — receive deposits 
from them of one dollar and upwards — pay them interest at the 
rate of 6 per cent, per annum — settle their accounts at the end 
of the year and add the interest to the principal until the total 
reaches §500. Then I require them to take and invest it and 
aid them in doing so. 1 do this only as long as they remain in 
my service. When they leave it, I require them to take their 
money. 

A volume would be required to state in full the advantages to 
employers and employees of such arrangements, and the occasion 
will only permit me to say in a few words, that it secures to em- 
ployers the continued services of faithful, saving, thrifty domes- 
tics, and gives to them contentment and self respect, and makes 
them kind, attentive and anxious to pleage. It is doubtless con- 
siderable trouble to keep their accounts, when there are several 
employees in a family; but the peace, order, comfort and enjoy- 
ment of our homes depend so much on their fidelity and qualifi- 
cations, that an employer is repaid four-fold for the trouble of 
keeping the accounts of their savings. 

Books have been written, and one very good one which 1 read 
a few years since, on the relations and mutual duties and obliga- 
tions of employers and employees, and in which numerous rules 
are given for the government of each. I will draw yom atten- 
tion to only one of them, but that one I regard and have found 
in practice a golden one, though difficult to follow. It is, never 
censure an employee for an omission of duty while irritated by 
that omission. Wait till the irritation has subsided. 

Knowledge is power, whether possessed by the chief magis- 
trate of our nation or by our humblest day laborer, and especial- 
ly is it valuable to the farmer and gardener. That every man 
and woman in every position and calling of life is the better for 
having an education, all will admit. This is not a proper occa- 
sion to dilate upon the value and advantages of a thorough edu- 
cation or discuss the best methods of obtaining it. It is, however, 



a suitable occasion to consider the values and discuss the best 
methods of obtaining- a knowledge of fanning and gardening, or 
in more classic phrase, of agriculture and horticulture. 

The value of such knowledge cannot be measured, for it sur- 
passes all limits ; nor can it be estimated, for it is beyond all price. 
It is to know the sources and elements of wealth in every age and 
every land — to know that the broadest, strongest aild most en- 
during basis of oui power and prosperity as a nation, and of our 
individual wealth is the soil. Our greatest possession and profit 
are and ever will be the productions of the earth, and they are 
obtained only by human toil. They are and ever must be the 
sole foundation of commerce and manufactures. How deficient, 
therefore, must lie the education of every American youth who 
is not taught the nature and value of the products of the earth, 
and the extent and character of the labor required to obtain 
them ! 

No attention has been given in any of our prominent semina- 
ries of learning, or method adopted to instruct our youth in this 
branch of knowledge till within the past few years, and since our 
General Government made a grant to the States of public lands 
for educational objects, and designated agriculture as one of them. 
This has brought into existence some institutions whose main 
object is instruction in agriculture, and has created departments 
in others for the same object. 1 have not seen the course of in- 
struction in either, nor had the opportunity of judging of its meth- 
od or efficiency. 1 have, however, a pretty clear idea of what 
it ought to be, and to show you what that idea is, I will cut 
another, and the last leaf to-day, from my book. 

I had eight sons who grew up to man's estate, the youngest of 
whom reached manhood several years before the grant of lands 
by the General Government to the States already mentioned. 
To each of these sons I gave a liberal education, as I have always 
deemed it the duty of every father to give his son as good an 
education as his means will allow, and his son is willing to 
receive, whatever may be his future calling. After each of my 
sons was fitted for college, I required him to work one year on 
my farm and in my garden, for which I paid him fair and reg- 
ular wages, as "reward sweetens labor," and required him to 
keep and work regular hours like my hired men. This gave 
him a knowledge of the products of the farm and garden, and 



6 

t\ye use of implements used in both, but what I regarded of more 
value, showed him what labor was and the toil required to enable 
"man to live by the sweat of his brow. 1 ' The knowledge thus 
acquired has proved of service to my sons as they have settled in 
life, and any agricultural education which conies short of this is 
in my opinion defective. 

You probably have noticed th^t thus far J have spoken only 
of the education of sons, without mentioning that of daughters. 
This is not because I regard their education of less importance 
than that of sons. In educating my daughters, (for I have 
daughters as well as sons), no pains or expense has been spared, 
to give to them as good and suitable educations as to my sons. But 
because, in my judgment, the education of our daughters should 
mainly be directed by and committed to mothers and right- 
minded women qualified to instruct them — not to the Julia 
Ward Howes and Susan B. Anthonys of the present day, who 
are dissatisfied with the arrangements, of a beneficent Creator, 
and strive presumptuously and foolishly to improve them, but to 
such women as Montgomery describes as ornaments and blessings 
of Anglo-Saxon homes, when he says : 

" Here Woman reigns; the mother, (laughter, wifej 
Strews with fresh flowers the narrow way of life ; 
In the clear heaven of whose delightful ej r e 
An angel-guard of loves and graces lie ; 
Around whose knees domestic duties meet, 
And fireside pleasures gambol at her feet." 

That is the kind of woman which God made as a companion 
of man. To such women should be committed the education 
of our daughters, and from them they would learn their true 
duties and true position in life. 

While I think that the education of the young women of our 
country should be mainly directed and given by their own sex, 
yet I will venture to make a single remark on that subject. No 
lady, however highly educated or accomplished, is less a lady 
for working, salting and laying down in a crock a churning of 
butter, or cooking and preparing a meal for her husband and chil- 
dren. 

I will now direct your attention for a few minutes to the sub- 
ject of gardening. I do not expect that my few remraks on that 
subject will interest or even arrest the attention of those of my 
audience who, by their inventive talents or otherwise, have ac- 



quired large fortunes, and employ gardeners on salaries of from 
three to rive hundred a year, and do not know, so far as a prac- 
tical knowledge of horticulture is concerned, whether the vege- 
tables on their tables come from the earth or the skies. But my 
remarks may perhaps be of some service to those of my audi- 
ence who, like myself, plant or help plant their gardens, and use, 
at least to some extent, the spade, hoe and weeding hook. 

Twenty-two years ago on the 28th day of this very month, I 
delivered an agricultural address in one of the large comities of 
the State of New York, in the open air, and to a very large 
assembly of farmers, said to have been over 3,000 in number. 
One topic of that address was a garden, and my object was to 
show and convince farmers, who in the State of New York could 
scarcely be said to have a garden, of the value and advantage of 
one in supplying a family with food. To show this, I stated 
among other facts, that an asparagus lied, 10 feet long and 30 
wide, would give more fo'od every spring, and go farther to sup- 
port a family, than a barrel of pork ; while the cost of making it 
in the first instance would not exceed that of raising and fatting 
the pork; and the labor required in the fall, to prepare it for 
winter, and in the spring, to prepare it for production, would 
not exceed the value of twenty pounds of pork ; and the bed, 
when lightly made, if properly taken care of, would last a life-time. 

This statement seemed to surprise my hearers. I now repeat 
it, and no doubt it surprises you, and you can scarcely credit it. 
Your minds are probably in the same frame as that of one of my 
hearers on the former occasion. A friend of mine met him the 
day after the address was delivered, and the following conversa- 
tion between them occurred : 

My F. Did you hear the address of my friend Foot yester- 
day \ 

Far. Yes. 

My F. Well, what did you think of it? 

Far. First rate. He said a great many very good things. 

My F. But what did you think of what he said about the 
asparagus bed and the barrel of pork? 

Far. Wall — wall, (speaking slowly and hesitatingly, fearing 
to speak out his mind fully lest he might give offence, and yet 
too honest to conceal the truth,) wall, your friend is a pretty 
considerable smart sort of a man to talk, but I guess, if I had 



8 

my choice, I'd take the barrel of pork afore the sparrow-grass. 

Yet I know the statement is true. For my asparagus bed is 
of the size mentioned, and I know what it yields yearly, and 
many barrels of pork of my own raising have been consumed in 
my family, and I know how far a barrel goes in providing food 
for a household, as well as how far asparagus goes for the same 
object. I know, too, what it cost to make the asparagus lied in 
the beginning, and what it has cost yearly to keep it in good 
condition. It is now thirty years old, and last season yielded 
one quarter more than my family could use, though it consisted 
with my guests of twelve. A garden 150 feet long and 100 feet 
wide, which is the size of mine, will produce more wholesome 
food than can be obtained from ten acres of land well cultivated 
and planted or sowed with any of the cereal grains, as wheat, 
rye, corn, &c. A garden of the size mentioned, will supply a 
family of twenty with all the vegetables they can consume, and 
with a small portion of meat, feed them comfortably. Vegeta- 
bles, also, are more wholesome than meats. Every farmer makes 
a great mistake, in point of profit, who fails to have a good gar- 
den ; and if he looks to comfort, health, and enjoyment, he will 
certainly have one; for a house in the country without a garden 
is indeed forlorn. 

You call your association, as I see from your program, the 
" Agricultural, Horticultural and Horse Association." The ob- 
jects of your association thus appear to be three — Agriculture, 
Horticulture, and the Horse. The two first have already been 
considered ; the third one, the Horse, only remains for consider- 
ation. I regret that my knowledge of Watertown horses is so 
exceedingly limited as it is It only extends to an acquaintance 
with one animal — an old black mare which my father owned for 
thirty years, twenty of the last years of the last century and ten 
of the first years of the present century. She was strong, square 
built, sure-footed, and a smart trotter. She carried, without 
stumbling or starting, my father and mother and two of their 
children to and from church every Sunday for full eighteen 
years, and until their youngest child, who was myself, was old 
enough to go to church on foot. — father riding on a saddle with 
a child before him, and mother on a pillion behind him with a 
child in her lap ; and after that she carried them to and from 
church till the infirmities of age prevented them from going. 



9 

There were no wagons or carriages for the conveyance of per- 
sons in this town till several years after the commencement of 
the present century. My present recollection is, that there was 
not one in the town when I left it, November, 1805. 

My brother Ebenezer, a well developed, good-looking young 
farmer, full six feet high, rode this mare as a trooper in a 
company of cavalry for several years during the last decade of 
the last century, and when on her back in his uniform, horse 
and rider were the admiration of all beholders. I never knew 
the good and sure creature to start but once, and that occurred in 
this wise. The little folks of this town had a ball the year I 
was twelve years old, and the custom was for each boy to carry 
the girl designated for him to and from the ball, which was held 
in the old red tavern, which stood on the site of the present res- 
idence of Mr. Homer Hemingway. We assembled and began 
dancing at tw6 o'clock P. M., and were expected to be home at 
early candle lighting. The girl I was to carry was a bright, 
pretty little girl named Sena Dayton, born the same week I w r as, 
whose parents lived at the north end of Shad street. I went 
after her on the old black mare in good time, her mother helped 
me put on the pillion, and with my girl behind me vvith her right 
arm around my person, to keep herself safely on the pillion, we 
went happily to the ball and returned as happily, it being under- 
stood both by ourselves and the neighbors that she was to be my 
wife when we reached a suitable age for marriage. After safely 
depositing my girl with her parents, I took the cross road from 
the north end of Shad street over to the Linkfield road and ,:o 
home. By this time it had become dark, and as I came along 
by the east meadow of my father's farm with woods on my right 
hand, just at the foot of the hill near the northwest corner of 
the meadow, the good old mare and I, having each about the same 
knowledge of phosphorescence, saw something white lying by 
the side of the road about the length and size of a man's body, 
which I in my fright took to be a corpse in a winding sheet, and 
the old mare thought it was something as bad as that if not 
worse, was dreadfully frightened, made a sudden start which 
almost threw me off and ran furiously home. My mother met 
me at the door, and I told her what an awful object the old mare 
and I had seen and how frightened we were. My mother laughed 
at me, told me what it was, and called me a pretty one to accom- 



10 

party girls to a ball and come home frightened out of my wits by a 
rotten log; and next day went with me and showed me the phos- 
phorescent log. 

My father died in L809, and the next year on the settlement of 
the estate and division of his property, the good old mare was 
sold to a man in Linktiekl whose business was peddling oysters. 
Although several years past thirty years of age, she would take 
him in a one horse wagon to New Haven in the fore part of the 
day and return with him in the after part of it with a load of 
oysters ; and she may still be doing that for ought I know, for 
I have never heard of her death. 

This is all the information 1 can give you about Watertown 
horses, and you are epiite welcome to it, but you will not expect 
me to attempt to enlarge on this object of your association. 

With this my duty of to-day would be ended, did not the 
occasion appear to call, as it does, for a few general and parting 
words. 

Having been born in the first year of the last decade of the 
last century, 1790, I have lived through a most interesting period 
of the history of our country and the world. Oh, my friends, 
what changes have occurred ! Our country then consisted of 
thirteen states, lying along the Atlantic coast and east of the 
Alleghany Moutains, with three millions of people. Now we 
are thirty-eight states with forty-five millions of people, extend- 
ing from ocean to -ocean and from the lakes to the Gulf of 
Mexico. 

I saw, in 1806, the first steamboat that ever moved on the 
waters of the Hudson river, or any distance on any waters. It 
came up that river from Clearmont, Duchess county, where Liv- 
ingston and Fulton built it, to Albany. I was then living with 
my brother Ebenezer, an office boy in his office in Troy. IJe 
had by that time become a prominent and successful lawyer. It 
was known in Troy that the steamboat was to come up' to Albany 
on a certain day, ami every body that could move went down to 
Albany to see it. Those rode who could and others walked. I 
and another boy went on foot; it was only six miles. I stood 
on the dock at Albany rnd saw the great black thing, which 
looked bke a monstrous mud turtle, come slowly up the river at 
the rate of four miles an hour and haul up to the dock. Now 



11 

steam moves every thing on land or water upon the face of the 
earth. 

In the year 18 12 I was sitting at the tea table of my brother 
Ebenezer in Albany, who had then become an eminent lawyer 
and moved from Troy to Albany, tne capital of the State, and 1 
was a clerk in his office, and heard my brother and Solomon 
South wick, a friend of his, converse on various subjects. Mr. 
Sonthwick was the editor of a newspaper published in Albany, 
a man of real genius and remarkable talents, but very visionary. 
There was a lull in the conversation for a short time; Mr South- 
wick broke the silence by saying: 

" Foot, the time will come, though yon and I won't see it, 
when there will be a railroad from Boston to the Pacific Ocean." 

My brother replied: 

" Why, South wick, if you don't put a guard on that tongue of 
yours, we shall have to put you in a lunatic asylum." 

This was the first time I ever heard the word "railroad'' 
spoken, and hardly knew what it meant. How truly prophetic 
were the words of Mr. Southwick ! 

During the period of my life the telegraph has been invented 
and put in practice, the ait of photography discoverd, the sewing 
machine invented, which should never be forgotten by any 
one connected with this town* — the printing press so perfected 
as to become almost a living thing. A volume could be tilled 
with the mere names of the inventions and discoveries which 
have been made in my lifetime. But I must stop here and not 
exhaust your patience ; yet let me speak a few parting words. 

But before speaking these words, allow me to state that I do 
not intend ever to deliver another public address; this is conse- 
quently ray last one, and it gives me unspeakable gratification. 
for which I am grateful, to deliver my last public address in the 
church of which my parents were members and in which I was 
baptised. 

The very soil of this town is dear to me. I was born upon 
it — spent my youth laboring on it — the ashes of my grand 
parents, of my father, of many relatives near and dear to me, are 
mingled with it. All my reccollections of this town and its in- 
habitants are pleasant. Nothing has ever occurred to mar any 
df them. A few years ago you remembered and honored me by 



* Wheeler and Wilson were residents of Watertown. 



12 

inviting me to meet and address yon on the dedication of your 
beautiful cemetery. I accepted the invitation, met and addressed 
you. Our meeting was most happy. Whenever I have visited 
you I have been received and treated with attention, kindness* 
and respect ; these feelings are reciprocated by me. I regard 
you with the greatest kindness, and hold you in the highest re- 
spect; every thing which concerns your prosperity and happiness 
deeply interests me. Our meeting on this occasion has been 
pleasant to me and I hope it has been to you. But it is our last 
meeting in this world. I cannot hope ever to be here again. A 
very few years at farthest will bring me to my final rest, and 
death will end a life already unusually and mercifully extended. 
But it is not " all of death to die." Death only separates the 
two elements, body and spirit, which constitute our being; while 
the body perishes the spirit survives, is immortal and never dies. 
When the body returns to dust the spirit ascends to our Heaven- 
ly Father from whom it emanated, and there, if life here has been 
what it ought to be, with expanded powers knows as we are 
known, comprehends the mystery of the being of our God, His 
works and providences — meets our dear Redeemer face to face, 
joins and communes with saints redeemed, meets many who have 
been near and dear on earth, and enters with them the mansions of 
rest " our Saviour has gone before to prepare for those who love 
Him." Oh ! what a day, what a glorious day will that be, My 
Dear Friends and Fellow Townsmen, when we, spirtual beings as 
we shall be, will begin this spiritual life, enter those mansions of 
rest, and meet in them to part no more. In the hope and belief 
we shall so meet, I bid you an affectionate and heartfelt farewell. 

SAMUEL A. FOOT. 



LIBRARY OF CONGRESS 



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